Mac Somhairle
The Gaelic surname Mac Somhairle means "son of Somhairle". The personal name Somhairle is a Gaelicised form of the Old Norse Sumarliðr and Sumarliði. The Old Norse Sumarliðr is composed of the elements sumar and liðr. As such, Sumarliðr and Sumarliði can be taken to mean "summer warrior", "summer seafarer". Anglicised forms of Mac Somhairle include: MacSorley, McSorley, Sorley, and Sorlie.
Forms of the surname have been borne by several families of note. For example, one such family was Clann Somhairle, descended from Somhairle mac Giolla Brighde ; another was a family closely related to the Lamonts and descended from a late thirteenth-century eponym; another was a sept of the MacDonalds and Camerons, descended from an armiger of Eóin Mac Domhnaill II, Lord of the Isles ; the name was also borne by a branch of the MacDonalds settled in Ireland.People
